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Researchers Rewrite First Chapter for the History of Medicine

An art historian and a medical researcher say they have pushed back by hundreds of years the earliest use of a medicinal plant.

Until now, the earliest known use was around 1000 B.C., with visual and written evidence for the myrtle, the lily, the poppy and others. Now, scholars say, the dating of a volcanic eruption and botanically accurate wall paintings indicate that saffron has been a versatile medicine since 3,500 years ago.

They base their case on frescoes at Thera, a Greek island in the Aegean, that have been thought to depict a goddess overseeing the production of perfume or spice. Instead, the scholars say, the frescos, from 1500 or 1600 B.C. -- the exact date is a topic of debate -- show the goddess presiding over the manufacture and use of a drug from the saffron flower.

''We know the date of the frescos,'' the scholars said, ''because a volcanic eruption stopped the clock, much as was the case in Pompeii.''

Dr. Gordon Bendersky, a retired cardiologist in the history department of the University of Pennsylvania, and Susan C. Ferrence, a doctoral candidate in art history at Temple University, are publishing their analysis in the spring issue of the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine.

The paintings are in a building that archaeologists designate Xeste 3. ''There we see a divinity of healing associated with therapeutic saffron,'' Dr. Bendersky said. He added that he and Ms. Ferrence became convinced that the paintings depicted medicinal saffron, in part because they seem to focus on the crocuses that produce saffron. ''We see in the frescos the painted depiction of the line of saffron production from plucking blooms to the collection of stigmas,'' he said. ''We see every stage in production except for the removal of the stigma. But what we have is enough to indicate that a manufacturing process took place.''

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The most striking evidence for the conclusion that the frescoes show a goddess of medicine lies in written records from many countries about the use of saffron in 90 illnesses over four millennia.

As for visual evidence, one fresco depicts ''a woman who appears to be treating her bleeding foot with saffron,'' Dr. Bendersky said.

Although up to now scholars had discounted the possibility of widespread saffron use because of its high cost, Dr. Bendersky and Ms. Ferrence point out that just a few milligrams are required for medicinal purposes. In fact, too much may prove fatal.

Dr. Ellen N. Davis, a retired professor of archaeology at Queens College and specialist in the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean, said, ''It's the most valuable and convincing study of the medicinal uses of saffron in the ancient Mediterranean world.''

Experts usually cite the first mention of saffron as appearing in an Assyrian botanical dictionary from the reign of Ashurbanipal in the seventh century B.C.

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A version of this article appears in print on March 2, 2004, on Page F00003 of the National edition with the headline: Researchers Rewrite First Chapter for the History of Medicine. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe